The medical arts have advanced rapidly in the area of stroke treatment. Until recently, only medicinal treatment could be offered. Then, stents capable of retrieving the clot material blocking a blood vessel in an ischemic stroke were developed. Now, if a patient is seen quickly after onset the clot material can be swiftly removed, thereby saving a great deal of brain function, that would otherwise be lost.
Still, many challenges remain, in the removal of a clot that blocks a cerebral artery. One of these challenges is the tendency of fragments of material to break off of the clot as it is being removed, flow in the direction of blood flow, and lodge anew in some narrow cerebral artery, causing a secondary stroke, which can be damaging.